The Bee's guide to events, activities, arts and entertainment

March 22, 2007

So this was the dilemma: It was Wednesday night - an evening usually spent with friends, going to dinner, catching up and then getting catty with "America's Next Top Model." (Oh, shut it -you know you love hating on The Tyra). And then, of course, there's "Lost." I wait all week for a new episode, and this week's was supposed to be a killer, what with the whole "John Locke wheelchair mystery" finally to be answered.

I love my "Lost" more than just about anything so you have to know that - TiVo or no TiVo - it takes something pretty special to get me out of the house on a Wednesday night.

That said, I really didn't want to pry myself off my friend's couch at 9:15 p.m. Wednesday night but - and this is what we call total disclosure - my husband's band was playing at the Press Club (21st and P streets). Now, I'm not the kind of wife who feels the need to attend her spouse's every show (and good thing, too, because he's in three bands), but this was part of Roger Carpio's new-ish Record Club.

Carpio is, as you may already know, one half of the team that brings you Old Ironsides' Tuesday-night Lipstick dance party.

Record Club is part show, part dance night - think live bands with DJ sets wedged in between the acts - and the vibe is totally laid-back and congenial.

As we hung out, sipping on drinks, I caught myself at several points doing that sort of unconscious foot shimmy. You know, the one where you're deep in conversation with someone but then you realize that your feet and hips are moving around as if they're off in their own private dance universe?

Anyway, long story short, the bands were great, but the atmosphere is really what made it all worth missing "Lost" for. Carpio's got an ear for unpretentious, dance-worthy music, and the Press Club is light years improved from the place we used to call the "Depressed Club." It's clean and shiny and friendly. Sure, the stage is kind of awkwardly angled in a corner, yet somehow it works. Probably because, unlike in the '90s, when the band played beneath cartoons of big-busted women, I am no longer distracted by a smelly bathroom or all the fights breaking out on the sidewalk. Say what you will about the evils of gentrification, but I like the new Press Club a whole lot better than the old one. I'm in my 30s now and grime no longer really holds a certain charm for me - just sayin'.

Oh, one more important thing: the Record Club is actually and officially held on the first and third Sundays of the month, which means that, next week, I don't have to have the inner "Lost vs. Dance" debate. So, this coming Sunday, check out Goldenboy and Agent Ribbons.

Carpio's also hosting a show with the Smiths tribute act This Charming Band on Friday night at the Blue Lamp (1400 Alhambra) as well as a pre-Apples in Stereo DJ set on Saturday night, also at the Blue Lamp.

See you there.

P.S. Do not even THINK about posting "Lost" spoilers in the comments - I'm watching it the second I get home today.

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